DUNEDIN, Fla. — The free Vlad Guerrero Jr. movement is not just a groundswell limited to frustrated Blue Jays fans anxious to see the top-rated prospect in all of baseball make the team at the end of spring training.
The Major League Baseball Players Association is monitoring how Jays management is handling Guerrero’s delayed promotion to the big leagues and will make it a prime point of discussion when executive director Tony Clark visits Jays training camp here later in March.
Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. poses for a portrait during a photo session at the Blue Jays spring training facility, Friday, Feb. 22, 2019, in Dunedin, Fla.
AP Photo
At issue is plans to manipulate Guerrero’s service time to the club’s benefit. A source from the players association told the Toronto Sun that its concern hasn’t changed from last September when Guerrero wasn’t among the many players promoted by the Jays for the final month of the season.
“It’s something we are following and it’s going to be an issue,” the players association source said. “Service-time manipulation has been a prominent theme that the players association has emphasized in its talks with Major League Baseball.
“It’s fair to say it has been a prominent issue raised by the players association.”
When asked about Guerrero specifically, the PA source re-iterated the statement from last fall when it was sharply critical of how the Jays are handling what most view as their most prized asset and the key to their rebuild.
And if the Jays stick with the plan not to have Guerrero on manager Charlie Montoyo’s opening day roster, the concern will heighten.
“The union’s position on service-time manipulation is clear,” the statement on the 19-year-old third baseman reads. “Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and other great young talents around baseball have earned the right to play on the field for a Major League team. The decision to not bring him up is a business decision.
“It’s bad for the Blue Jays. It’s bad for fans. It’s bad for players and it’s bad for the industry.”
In an interview with MLB radio earlier this week, Jays general manager Ross Atkins took some heat for comments suggesting the Dominican-raised phenom isn’t ready. You can be sure Clark will reference that and more when he meets here with Atkins and the Jays.
“Our vision is it really comes down to development, so I just don’t see him as a major league player, right?,” Atkins told MLB Network Radio. “He’s 19.”
Of course, there’s a strong chance Guerrero would immediately be the rebuilding team’s best hitter, but the Jays public stance is that they want him to develop fully before promoting him.
However the players association maintains that holding him back is a clear manipulation of service time. That policy dictates that a player who spends 172 days or more on an active roster gets credited with as year of service time, which affects future negotiations.
If the Jays don’t promote Guerrero until mid April or later, he wouldn’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2025 season.
Atkins addressed the Guerrero situation again on Thursday, clarifying what the team sees as development concerns with the 2018 minor league baseball player of the year.
“We’re just trying to maximize and do everything that we can to do what’s best for him,” Atkins said. “We genuinely feel it would be a disservice to the organization and to Vladdy if we weren’t thinking about it that way, to maximize his full potential.”
At various times, the Jays have been concerned about Guerrero’s ability to be an everyday third baseman, an area that he’s been working hard at so far through camp. A big and potentially still growing kid, the Jays are also focused on Vlad Jr.’s fitness.
“It’s really about foundation,” Atkins said on the prospect of Guerrero starting the 2019 season at triple A Buffalo. “His overall foundation will impact his consistency as an offensive player too, and long-term durability.
“So how can he be the best possible version of himself?”
Physically, Guerrero is already incredibly powerful but at a weight likely more than his listed 200 pounds, the Jays want to keep on top of it with diet, workout routines and the day-to-day grind of the game.
“There aren’t many young individuals that are 200-plus pounds at 19-years-old,” Atkins said. “He is a physical, physical human being. How do we tap into all of that power? How do we tap into all of that range of motion and agility and not just rely on the fact that, yes, he is a very gifted hitter that is going to hit for a long time.”
Fans and the PA may have concerns, but Atkins said Guerrero has been understanding.
“(He’s handling it) incredibly, incredibly well,” Atkins said. “My interactions with him are as jovial and as fun and as productive as they can be. He’s in a great place mentally.
“We just want to get him in an incredible place fundamentally and physically and mentally.”
Guerrero will see plenty of action in Grapefruit League play which Atkins sees as an important part of his development.
“This will be an incredible development for him, these 30-plus days and these games that are coming and being exposed to the daily discussions with Kendrys Morales and Justin Smoak and Kevin Pillar,” Atkins said. “The daily exposure to the best pitching in the world. That will be incredible exposure and development for him.”
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